During Rainy Ride, Love For Mill St. Bike Lanes As Effort To Eliminate Begins

WORCESTER, MA — When a round of applause erupted inside Stearns Tavern over the weekend for the new layout of Mill Street, it was a rare moment of praise for a roadway whose redesign last year has attracted steady criticism.

The applause came during a graduation ceremony Saturday for the nearly 100 locals who participated in an electronic bike program over the last 21 months. Each participant received a free e-bike and shared data on where they rode with city officials. The city will use the data to plan better bike routes in a city that, as some at the ceremony pointed out, is behind the times in accommodating cyclists.

The plan after Saturday's graduation was to ride along Mill Street, which late in 2023 was repainted to include the city's first parking-protected bike lane — a design common in places like Cambridge and Boston. The redesign was meant to slow traffic along a road called "the speedway" by locals, and provide a safe bicycling route between the east and west sides.

Since its completion in early December, the redesign has been the focus of complaints from residents who believe the road is now more dangerous. The number of car crashes since the redesign are below average, city officials have said. Drivers have in some cases used the new bike and parking lanes to pass other drivers, resulting in crashes with parked cars.

Last week, a motorcyclist crashed into a parked car along Mill Street, an incident preceded by reckless driving, Worcester police have said. But the crash has renewed calls to return Mill Street to its previous configuration without bike lanes — an effort now backed by city councilors.

At a budget hearing Tuesday, At-Large Councilor Moe Bergman requested a report from city administrators on how much it would cost to delete the new bike and parking lanes. He called the redesign, "a major disaster as far as being a failure," and said during the meeting his "intent is to roll it back before another serious accident."

As rain poured ceaselessly outside the 200-year-old tavern situated at the southern end of Mill Street, the e-bike program participants struck a tone of optimism about biking in Worcester and new routes to travel, like the Mill Street bike lanes.

"It was a transformative experience," participant Juan Santana said, speaking in Spanish. "Not only about learning how to ride a bike, but I also learned confidence, freedom and a sense of community."

Julie Holy said she rode 6,000 miles since receiving her e-bike in August 2021, 10 percent of the 60,000 miles the participants rode during the program. Andrea Lusk said, as a single woman, her e-bike gave her the confidence to take up solo bicycling, exploring dozens of rail trail miles in the region.

"It's not about the miles, it's about the people who are part of the program," said Alex Salcedo, the MassBike organizer who oversaw the e-bike program, including organizing multiple community rides.

Worcester Department of Transportation and Mobility Commissioner Steve Rolle said the city is just getting started making streets safer for cyclists. Mill Street added 4 miles of bike lanes (3 of those miles protected by parking to prevent doorings). Eight more miles of bike lanes will arrive by the end of 2024 with projects along Burncoat Street, Stafford Street and Grove Street underway.

District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, who rented an e-bike for Saturday's ceremony, said she spent time Friday riding with her son in the Mill Street area, something she says she wants more families across the city to be able to experience — safely.

With rain still pouring, over a dozen of the e-bike graduates and supporters — including Haxhiaj, Salcedo, Santana, MassBike Executive Director Galen Mook and Worcester senior traffic engineer Scott Galbraith — made the decision to damn the weather and take the Mill Street ride.

The riders entered Mill Street where there are no bike lanes before Coes Pond beach. The new lanes begin near the site of the now-demolished Big D supermarket. The riders moved cautiously in single-file up the bike lane. Some drivers honked, some were speeding well above the 30 mph limit, some splashed the riders while driving through pools of water.

After the Edgemere Mini-Mart, the riders passed a pickup truck whose rear end was crumpled. It was a reminder of the importance of parking-protected bike lanes: the truck took the impact of what could've been a human body.

A little after the crunched pickup, two drivers had parked their cars in the bike lane, an illegal maneuver that forced the cyclists to drive around the cars and closer to traffic. MassBike Communications Director Jes Slavin noted that the empty parking spots did give the cyclists enough space to avoid coming too close to speeding traffic.

The group turned around near June Street, nixing plans to ride the full length of Mill Street due to the rain. Mook stood in the middle of Mill Street to stop traffic and ensure a safe crossing for all the riders. The ride back to Stearns Tavern was smooth, except for some large puddles. At the end of the ride, a Range Rover with tinted windows gave the line of riders a friendly toot of the horn.

Back at Stearns Tavern, the soaked group continued to brave the rain for a photo. Smiling, they pledged to return for another (drier) ride on Sunday. About 15 riders turned out, including Rolle and Mill Street neighborhood group leader Nathalie Gibson.

Haxhiaj reported that the Sunday ride was "absolutely wonderful." One driver did yell at the group to "stay in the bike lane." Luckily, that's exactly what the cyclists want to do.